Small off-road vehicles such as utility or recreational vehicles are becoming popular for recreational and other general purpose off-road usage. Such utility vehicles can be found, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,770. These utility vehicles have found usage on golf courses and at sporting events, and are particularly adaptable for utilization on a farm. This type of flexibility, and the wide variety of uses necessitates a vehicle that is highly flexible, highly maneuverable, and the like. This demands a vehicle that will afford a high degree of maneuverability and ease of steering.
Utility vehicles can be manufactured in a two axle (four wheels) or a three axle (six wheels) configuration. The vehicles are typically shipped in the same configuration as they are operated. To minimize shipping costs, it is desirable to restrict the shipping length (i.e., shipping envelope) of the vehicle. Since these utility vehicles are normally shipped laterally on a truck bed, limitations in vehicle length are highly important as this becomes a critical factor in shipping width. The length of the vehicle is controlled by the diameter of the front tire, the clearance between the front tire and the front fender, the longitudinal length of the operator station (including the floor boards and the seat structure), and the length of the bed. Competitive advantages can be realized if each of these factors could be enlarged. For example, the front tires could be increased in size, greater fender clearance could be provided to allow for sharper steering, and a longer bed to allow for greater carrying capacity could be achieved. In addition, boarding ease and riding comfort could be improved by lengthening the operator station.
Increasing the size of these various components results in a corresponding increase in size of the operating envelope, and therefore, the shipping envelope. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a utility vehicle configuration in which the shipping envelope is smaller than the operating envelope.